A sea of humanity. What a wonderful sight to see at the start. |
After we took the lead, we had stretches where we played very well. We pushed to get a second goal to try to finish the match and we didn't and we paid the price. |
All of that fits with how a team is coming together. When you have new players and trial players and everything else, it's silly to start talking about anything else. |
Brad has had a good stretch of training with the national team. He'll be with them a while longer with the possibility of getting into a game. I'm hoping that will happen. |
Bringing in some experienced players here to ensure day in and day out that we are establishing the right kinds of habits ... goes a long way towards setting a tone. |
Bruce has communicated very clearly with him. He knows it's imperative that he moves himself along. |
Certainly, he's one of the players I am really counting on to set a good example and a good tone each day. |
From our standpoint, this is the most important game we've played yet and the responsibility is on us to really make this into a true rivalry. |
He is a goal scorer who possesses a good left foot and has had experience with championship teams. |
He is a winner and he is a fighter. I had great respect for the way he played when he joined the team last year. That is a great starting point. Peter Nowak was a winner and a fighter and when you have that mentality from your best players it sets the tone. |
He's still working his way back into full fitness and it's a wet field, so it didn't feel like it made sense to use him. We'll gauge where he is and hopefully we can keep moving along. |
I always knew that he would still have defensive qualities. They don't go away. He's not fast but he was never that fast. He reads things. He puts attackers on his terms. He knows how to slow guys down. For me, it was just a matter of seeing one, if he was healthy and two, if he was just really strong in terms of his motivation. I think he's shown both. |
I believe that the starting points for building a good team are in place. Now we've got to keep going. It's a process. Then as we go, you know what, we can start to figure out what's realistic and where we are. Where are we in the standings? Are we still in position to set our sights on other things? Are we fighting to make the playoffs? You go a little bit at a time. |
I didn't have a good feeling with the way things were handled in New York. It still doesn't sit right with me. |
I know that's really important and yet I also try and create an environment where there's a strong group of players to provide leadership, not just one. |